Idaho State Police

Last year, Idaho became the first state to track sexual assault investigation kits – making sure the kits are tested and processed according to state law. The Idaho State Police released the 2017 report to the state legislature last Friday.

Idaho State Police are seeing a spike in evidence waiting to be tested to confirm the presence of heroin and other opioids. With three labs across the state, an official with ISP says they’re hiring and shifting staff to accommodate the influx of tests.

Scenarios in which police use drones for investigations keep going up and up.

Idaho State Police, which is about a year into its program of using unmanned aircraft to get birds-eye views of crash and crime scenes, has six drones and 13 pilots throughout the state, according to the Coeur d'Alene Press.

"Our missions to fly have started to pick up," ISP Capt. John Ganske said during a demonstration last week at the agency's District 1 office in Coeur d'Alene.

With summer unofficially starting Monday, the time of year for road trips is here. As a lot of people hit the road over the long weekend, safety officials are urging drivers to be careful not just for increased holiday traffic but for the whole summer ahead.

Not to rain on any parades this holiday weekend, but Memorial Day marks the start of the hundred deadliest days on the roads. With temperatures rising and school not in session, many families plan vacations this time of year and a good amount of them drive. More people on the roads means a greater chance of accidents.

The Idaho State Police and other law enforcement agencies are pushing for new rules for 911 and emergency dispatchers.

Idaho does not currently require training or hiring standards for 911 dispatchers.

ISP, the Idaho Sheriff’s Association and the Idaho Chiefs of Police want to change that. They’ve drafted legislation that would require a week of either academy or online training in the field of emergency dispatching.

Dispatchers would also have to take a minimum of 40 hours of continuing education classes every two years.

By looking at FBI crime stats and census data, SafeWise ranked Idaho just behind Nevada and Michigan when it comes to how overworked police officers are. The report critiqued the ratio of police to residents, and found there’s one police officer to every 483 residents.

State and federal officials in Boise announced Friday that two Adams County Sheriff's deputies involved in the shooting death of a rancher last year near Council will not face charges.

Both Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and U.S. Attorney Wendy Olsen say they will not charge deputies Cody Roland and Brian Wood in Jack Yantis' November 1 death along Highway 95. Wasden's office has spent four months reviewing information provided after an Idaho State Police investigation.

The owners of the Village Cinemas in Meridian are suing the Idaho State Police because the agency wants to revoke the theater’s liquor license. The action stems from an instance last February when undercover officers say they were served alcohol at a showing of Fifty Shades of Grey, an R-rated movie about sexual fetishes. Idaho law prohibits alcohol at movies that include sexual content.

Idaho State Police say troopers have issued more speeding tickets since the speed limit increased to 80 mph along stretches of Interstate 84.

Spokeswoman Teresa Baker says state police wrote 2,066 speeding tickets on I-84 between July 24 and Nov. 13. That's up nearly 20 percent from the same period in 2013 when 1,731 speeding tickets were issued.

Speed limits on some rural stretches of interstates 84, 86 and 15 rose from 75 mph to 80.

Con artists are giving new life to an old scam. The Boise Police Department is warning Treasure Valley residents to avoid becoming victims.

The Boise Police Department says scammers are using fear and the threat of arrest to get victims to part with their money. BPD first reported on a version of this scam last November. Now they say scammers have escalated their efforts to con people out of money.